The Isthmian Games are the largest and most prestigious puzzle competition in the International High IQ Society’s suite of competitions, with over 32,000 participants in last year’s challenge alone.

About the Games

The ancient Greeks tell of a man named Sisyphus, a once mighty king of Corinth, who founded the Isthmian Games in honor of his fallen comrade Melicertes. Homer was fond of saying king Sisyphus was the wisest and most cunning of the mortals.

Today’s Isthmian Games are a series of difficult puzzles that some say solving is not unlike Sisyphus’s legendary struggle to roll a rock up a hill, only to see it fall before reaching the peak. Most who compete in the Games push their rock uphill only to see it fall back time and time again. Only the tireless few will eventually triumph and win the coveted Melicertes Award.

Each puzzle created for the Isthmian Games is painstakingly crafted, taking months—sometimes years—before it’s completed. The puzzles produced for the Isthmian Games are unique and complex challenges created for that narrow strip of humanity that enjoy burning a little fat off their souls through adventuresome puzzling.

Time is only a factor in that you’re racing against the world’s most devoted puzzlers to be the first to successfully solve the challenge. Some challenges end quickly; others may take years before they’re solved by a single individual. In the absence of an official winner the challenges remain open in perpetuity.

How to compete

All challenges are presented as print-ready PDF documents, and open to the public with no fees involved with participating.

To compete download the PDF titled “Sisyphean Air Route Map” found on the Compete page and submit your answers to the email address provided in the PDF. The first person to email the correct solutions to all parts of the challenge will be crowned the winner.

Good luck!

Nathan Haselbauer
President, International High IQ Society